AN independent report into parking in Esher, compiled by a lobby group made up of residents, has been handed to a committee tasked with sorting out the problem.

REACT (Residents of Esher Against Commuter Traffic) has handed its 19-page document to the Elmbridge Local Committee, which is made up of county and borough councillors.

The committee was due to discuss the report and its findings at a meeting this week.

REACT was formed on June 21, the same day that Elmbridge Council introduced charges into its car parks in the town.

This move, the group claims, has led to all-day parkers not using the car parks and moving to side roads around the High Street to escape paying.

“This has greatly annoyed local residents,” REACT’s report states in its summary of findings.

“Residents need some form of protection from the incursion of commuters on their prized and very limited space.”

At present, responsibility for the town’s public car parks rests with Elmbridge Council, while the county council takes charge of on-street controls.

The borough council is one of the last authorities in Surrey to get to grips with Decriminised Parking Enforcement (DPE).

When introduced, enforcement of parking restrictions on the borough’s streets will be carried out by wardens employed by the Civic Centre.

“While the timing of DPE is clearly an issue for Surrey, it is an irrelevance to Esher residents who continue to suffer on a daily a basis,” the REACT report says.

“REACT is seeking action by one or other local authority – or even a joint administration – to a known problem.

“Residents have been unimpressed with the denial of responsibility exhibited by both Elmbridge and Surrey to a well known environmental problem.”

Ahead of the report being looked at by the Elmbridge Local Committee, the borough’s transportation director, Chris Smith, has tabled his opinions on the REACT report.

“REACT recognises that the borough council has management responsibility for public off-street car parking, and introduced the changes in Esher,” he said.

“Elmbridge Borough Coun-cil introduced the changes without conducting an impact study. There was a dialogue with Surrey County Council, but the borough council chose not to bring a report to this joint committee.”

With a lack of information about parking patterns in Esher, REACT decided to conduct its own research.

One survey was an audit of available spaces and the other a questionnaire aimed at gathering public opinion.

According to REACT’s audit, shoppers and workers in Esher need more than 304 spaces.

“Short of building a new multi-storey car park to accommodate this demand, the authorities need to do more than just introduce car park charges in the 298 off-street spaces,” the report says.

“Ideally, there needs to be a study of shopper and commuter preferences for a solution, linked to some form of resident parking zone.”